Grand opening celebrates store that bucks trend

Gallup's newest discount store, the Dollar General store on South Second Street, held its grand opening over the weekend. [Photo by Jeff Jones/Independent]

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — You can't buy much for a dollar nowadays.

Which is why stores that cater to people who want to buy something for a dollar are doing well nationwide.

And which is why that nothing not even Gallup's first snowstorn of the year could keep people this weekend from coming out for the grand opening of the new Dollar General Store here.

"The snow storm had a slight impact on our grand opening," said Cecilia Baldonado, the manager of the chain's newest store at 805 South Second Street, "but we were still here to serve customers throughout the weekend, despite the weather."

This is the company's 7,994th store, 32 of which are in New Mexico.

It sells bargain items, with at least a third of them priced at $1 or less.

"The opening of the store on March 2 was well received by the company and the store was filled with happy customers, great bargains and busy checkout lines," she said.

The store employs 11 full-time personnel.

Something that is somewhat unusual in these kinds of stores is the company's support of literacy projects.

People who go there will find a section devoted not to bargains or near bargains, but information on where you can go if you can't read but want to, where you can take General Education Diploma (GED) classes or take the test or where you can take English classes if your primary language is Spanish or some other language.

Company officials said this is something that all of the stores promote. In 2004, more than 8,700 people nationwide responded to the literature and took courses or tests.

Baldonado, who came to Gallup after being an assistant manager at another of the company's stores, said customers who showed up for the grand opening seemed to be excited about having a Dollar General store in Gallup.

"Now they have a convenient place to shop for health and beauty products, cleaning supplies, food, basic clothing and much more," she said.